The power of the words "I don't know"
I started my IT journey back in 2006, and those were funny times. People rarely got into IT for perks, high salaries, or other materialistic reasons, at least not in Russia. Instead, they joined IT because they had a unique way of thinking or interacting with the world, and they felt a little bit weird. IT was the place for such nerds.
In 2010, I was fortunate to join a mid-size team of 12 employees working on a large-scale project. Our goal was to create the next-generation custody engine for one of the top three-tier investment banks in Europe. At that time, I was a functional analyst, responsible for eliciting and clarifying requirements for the team.
Among the team members was Oleg S., a lead developer who initially came from a military family, served his conscription service, and held a Ph.D. from A.F. Mozhaysky Military-Space Academy. Despite my four years of IT experience, I was still completely "green" compared to the team, especially Oleg, who had over 15 years of experience back then.
There was something in me, however, because the team did not turn me off. Instead, they tried to bring me up to speed with them. One of the conversations that I still recall up to this day was with Oleg. He found me struggling during one of the planning games, where I was not completely prepared and was trying to address one of the developers' questions by thinking on top of my head.
Oleg approached me strongly but with some care, saying,
"You see, there is a segregation of duty, here and always. We are developers; we write code and implement requirements. You are a functional analyst; you have to understand what the business wants and translate those into what the system or code we create needs to do. You have just joined, and you cannot know or understand everything. Thinking out and guessing on top of your head will likely create confusion. Don't be afraid to say 'I don't know' to us or to business. For us, that would mean we would be working on something else in the meantime. For the business, that would mean they need to elaborate on that more. For you, it is the only ability to educate yourself in the domain."
This was probably something obvious yet for me, this was an eye-opener. It is absolutely okay not to know something. As a functional/requirements analyst, one of my most important duties was to reflect on those gaps and try to clarify them.
Thirteen years later, I still remember those words of wisdom. Sometimes, it is truly fascinating to see how people react when I say, "I don't know for sure. Can you educate me, please?"
What do you think of the above? Do you find it relevant, or could it be misguiding?